Innovative design to improve the power density of a solid oxide fuel cell

This paper explores the possibility of improving the power density of a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). A three-dimensional computational model (CFD-ACE package), with the relevant sub-models was used for the study. The performance of the SOFC was examined with a thin wall, which splits the inlet section and runs up to half the length of the flow channels. The results obtained with this (thin-walled) geometry were consistently better than those obtained with plain geometry (without the thin wall). The polarization characteristics of the thin-walled geometry indicated that the maximum power density obtained was 1.18 W cm−2 at an efficiency of around 60%. The corresponding values of maximum power density and the efficiency at which it was obtained for a plain geometry were 0.88 W cm−2 and 50%, respectively. The enhanced performance of the thin-walled geometry was attributed to a better distribution of the reactants along the length of the SOFC. Studies were also conducted to verify the performance of the thin-walled geometry over a wide range of inlet mass flow rates. They revealed a superior performance of the thin-walled geometry compared to the plain geometry. At lower inlet mass flow rates, the difference between the two in performance was small, but at higher inlet mass flow rates the difference in performance was significant.